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breaking news

Shayon Green in middle of things as Hurricanes ready for spring practice

A few notes and thoughts heading into Tuesday’s opening of spring practice at UM:
….Redshirt freshman Shayon Green has never played a down of college football, but he enters spring practice as the team’s starting middle linebacker. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound Green injured his knee during fall practice and underwent surgery. With the departure of Darryl Sharpton and the decision by Arthur Brown to transfer, Green moved all the way up the depth chart to No. 1. Whether he can keep hold of the job is another question. “He blew his knee out early so you can’t really give him a fair assessment,” coach Randy Shannon said while meeting with reporters on Monday morning. “He’s a hard worker, a big, big guy that has athletic ability, can run.” The coaching staff considered moving Colin McCarthy to middle linebacker, but would prefer to keep him on the outside. Depending on Green’s performance, that’s subject to change. “We’re giving Shayon his opportunity to play that position,” Shannon said. “After 15 days of spring football, we’ll assess it and reevaluate what we need to get done.”

….Shannon said that linebackers coach Micheal Barrow did not interview at Florida for a job on Urban Meyer’s staff as reported elsewhere.

….Asked if he considered pushing back spring practice so that starting quarterback Jacory Harris could participate as Ohio State did with quarterback Terrelle Pryor, Shannon said: “Nope. You can’t let one person dictate what you want to get done.”

….Fans will get two chances to watch the Hurricanes this spring – a scrimmage at Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium on March 11 at 6:30 p.m. and the spring game on March 27. The spring game is expected to be held at Traz Powell Stadium in Miami.

….Chris Ivory is expected to handle short- and long-snapping duties next season. Ivory has been UM’s long snapper for two seasons. Shannon said the No. 3 quarterback will serve as a holder for extra points and field goals.

….Shannon said that UM baseball coach Jim Morris asked if freshman safety Jamal Reid could also play baseball. Shannon declined, saying that Reid, an outstanding baseball player in high school, needed to learn the team’s defense. Shannon did say he was not opposed to Reid playing baseball when spring practice ends.

….Shannon said his overall goal for spring practice is to make his team “tougher”” and promised workouts will be very physical. There will be an emphasis at the end of practices of putting players in positions where they either fail or succeed. “Finishing is the biggest thing,” Shannon said. “Some games [last season] we finished strong. Some games we didn’t have that extra oomph the last two minutes of the game to get us where we needed to be. At the end of practice we’ll put them in situations that , ‘offense we need this done, defense we need this done.’ And whoever doesn’t get it done we’ll know and we can evaluate who we can really rely on at those critical times.”